Key Facts
| SELT result validity for a UK visa application | 2 years from the date the test is awarded |
|---|---|
| SELT test booking window | within 28 days of booking |
Figures correct at the time of writing. Confirm current fees and deadlines with the school or university directly.
An IELTS listening score is the band from 1 to 9 awarded once a raw mark out of 40 correct answers has been converted using the table published for that particular test version. Reading works on the same principle: Listening, Academic Reading and General Training Reading each carry 40 questions worth one mark apiece, and the total number of correct answers converts to a band in whole or half steps. There is no pass or fail; a raw score only becomes meaningful once it is checked against the band table for the paper actually sat, since the same mark out of 40 can represent different bands on different versions.
IELTS is owned jointly by the British Council, IDP IELTS and Cambridge University Press & Assessment, and the same nine-band scale applies to Listening, Reading, Writing and Speaking wherever the test is taken. Because each version uses different texts and recordings, the bodies that set a required band work from a conversion table, since a raw score carries no fixed percentage equivalent, and that table shifts slightly from sitting to sitting and more noticeably between Academic and General Training Reading. Checking a practice-test raw score against the published tables gives a realistic reading of the band it represents.
How Are Listening and Reading Marked?
Each of the 40 Listening questions and 40 Reading questions carries exactly one mark, so a candidate's raw score for either paper is simply the number of correct answers achieved out of 40, with no partial credit for a partly correct response and no extra marks for working or style. Marking follows a small, fixed set of rules that apply across both papers and across every question type used in them:
- Multiple choice, matching and labelling questions: one mark for the exact correct response, with no partial credit.
- Completion questions: answers must fit the stated word limit, such as 'no more than two words and/or a number'.
- Spelling and grammar: an incorrectly spelled answer is marked wrong even when the intended meaning is clear.
- Word form: a hyphenated word counts as a single word, and contracted forms are not tested as answers.
What Is the Raw Score to Band Conversion for Listening and Reading?
The published conversion table turns a raw mark out of 40 into a whole or half band, with each higher band generally needing more correct answers than the one below it. The table below sets out the examples given for Listening, Academic Reading and General Training Reading: on the version it is drawn from, 16 correct answers in Listening and 15 in Academic Reading are enough for band 5, rising to 35 correct for band 8 in both papers, while General Training Reading needs 15 correct for band 4 and 35 for band 7.
| Band score | Listening (marks out of 40) | Academic Reading (marks out of 40) | General Training Reading (marks out of 40) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 4 | - | - | 15 |
| 5 | 16 | 15 | 23 |
| 6 | 23 | 23 | 30 |
| 7 | 30 | 30 | 35 |
| 8 | 35 | 35 | - |
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Enquire about this tutorWhy Does General Training Reading Need More Correct Answers for the Same Band?
General Training Reading needs more correct answers than Academic Reading to reach the same band because the two papers draw on different kinds of text. The General Training paper uses everyday and workplace material such as notices, advertisements, timetables, job descriptions and training documents, whereas the Academic paper draws on books, journals, magazines, newspapers and online sources written for a non-specialist audience, with topics of general interest to undergraduate and postgraduate students. The example table shows the effect directly: the same 15 correct answers give band 5 in Academic Reading but only band 4 in General Training Reading, and the same 35 correct answers give band 8 in Academic Reading against band 7 in General Training Reading.
Why Does the Conversion Vary Between Test Versions?
The precise number of marks needed for a given band varies slightly from one test version to another, because each version is built from different texts and recordings even though every version is calibrated to keep the band scale consistently difficult. A raw score of 30 out of 40 might sit at band 7 on one Listening paper and need a mark or two more on another, which is why the published table works as an example for that version alone. Treating a single conversion figure as fixed across every sitting risks reading a practice score the wrong way.
How to Use the Conversion With Official Practice Tests
Official practice tests come with an answer key and a conversion table specific to that version, and using both correctly matters as much as the practice itself. A practice score is only informative when it is produced and read the same way the real test produces and reads a result, which means following the same short set of conditions each time:
Because the same raw score can map to a different band on another version, running several official practice papers over several weeks and tracking the band each one produces builds a dependable trend. A single practice sitting, scored against its own table, shows where marks are being lost; a run of sittings shows whether targeted practice on those question types is closing the gap, which matters for planning further study more than any one raw score on its own.
- Mark the attempt against the official answer key for that specific practice test, treating it as the sole basis for correctness.
- Time the attempt exactly: 30 minutes for Listening, 60 minutes for Reading, with no added transfer time on the computer-delivered format.
- Convert the raw score using the band table published with that same practice test, keeping it matched to that particular version.
- Repeat across several practice tests and track the band each raw score produces over time, building that picture from the full run of sittings.
How to Target the Questions That Move a Raw Score
Every question in both papers carries the same single mark, so moving a raw score upward does not require targeting only the hardest content first; recovering marks lost to the marking rules themselves is often just as effective. Completion questions are where marks are most often lost to word limits and spelling, so checking every written answer against the stated limit and against correct spelling straight after each practice paper closes a gap that has nothing to do with comprehension.
Matching and labelling questions reward precise reading of the question instructions, since a sensible answer assigned to the wrong item, speaker or location on a plan earns nothing at all. Short-answer and multiple-choice questions are worth practising once those rule-based losses are under control, since they depend on general comprehension that improves more slowly than word-limit and spelling accuracy do, and are better used to track genuine progress over several weeks.
- Completion questions first: fixing word-limit and spelling losses recovers marks that have nothing to do with comprehension.
- Matching and labelling questions next: practise reading the question instructions as closely as the passage or recording itself.
- Short-answer and multiple-choice questions last: these depend on general comprehension, which improves more gradually over a longer run of practice.
Related guides
- What is IELTS? Format, versions and scoring
- IELTS Academic or General Training?
- IELTS band scores explained
- IELTS Writing Task 1 (Academic)
- IELTS Writing Task 2 essays
- IELTS Speaking test format
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Frequently asked questions
- What band does 30 out of 40 give in the Listening test?
- On the example conversion table, 30 correct answers out of 40 are enough for band 7 in Listening, and the same raw mark also reaches band 7 in Academic Reading, though General Training Reading needs 35 correct for that band. The exact mark needed shifts slightly between test versions, so a practice score of 30 should be read as sitting close to band 7, treated as an approximate indication.
- Is the Listening test different between the Academic and General Training versions?
- No. The Listening test is identical for both versions of the test: both use the same four recorded sections, 40 questions and marking out of 40. Academic and General Training differ only in the Reading and Writing papers, where Academic Reading draws on more complex academic-style texts and General Training Reading uses everyday and workplace material, which is also why their raw-score-to-band conversions differ.
- How do Listening and Reading scores combine into an overall band score?
- The overall band score is the average of the four section scores, Listening, Reading, Writing and Speaking, rounded to the nearest half band. An average that lands exactly on a quarter, such as 6.25, rounds up to the next half band, so scores of 6.5, 6.5, 5 and 7 across the four skills average to 6.25 and round up to an overall 6.5. Because Listening and Reading are scored from a raw mark while Writing and Speaking are judged against assessment criteria, a strong raw score in one skill cannot be used to estimate the other two.
- Can a practice test Listening and Reading score be used for a UK visa application?
- Only a score from IELTS for UKVI, taken at a Home Office-approved centre and delivered under the IELTS SELT Consortium, counts as a Secure English Language Test for visa, settlement or nationality applications. A standard sitting or an online practice score does not. That version is marked using the same Listening and Reading papers and the same conversion tables described above, so the raw-score-to-band principle still applies; what differs is where and how the test is taken and verified, with the scoring itself staying the same.
- Does a higher General Training Reading band mean better English than the same band in Academic Reading?
- No, a given band represents the same level of English ability whichever version of Reading produced it; General Training and Academic Reading simply reach that band through different texts and a different number of correct answers, applying the same standard of English throughout. The bands share one nine-band scale across both versions, so a band 6 in General Training Reading and a band 6 in Academic Reading describe the same practical level of reading ability, even though the General Training paper needed more correct answers to get there.
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